Bob Dylan – 1913 Massacre (Guitar)

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Chords

This is a Woody Guthrie song that Bob Dylan adapted for his style. This is in ¾ time but is a bit of dirge. A sad song. [Verse]
G                      D G
Take a trip with me in 1913

  C                          D      G
To Calumet, Michigan, in the copper country.

                                C         G
I'll take you to a place called EYE talian Hall

          G
Where the miners…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                D             G       C    G
are having their big Christmas ball.
[Verse]
G                      D G
I'll take you indoor, and up a high stair.

  C                          D      G
There's singin' and dancin', it's heard everywhere,

                                  C         G
I'll let you shake hands with the people you see

          G
And watch…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                D             G
the kids dance round the big Christmas tree.
[Verse]
G                      D G
There's singin' and dancin' and songs in the air,

  C                          D      G
An' the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere,

                                C         G
Before you know, you're friends with us all

          G
And you're dancin'…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                D          G
around and around in the hall.
[Verse]
G                                 D G
You ask about work and you ask about pay;

  C                                      D      G
They'll tell you they make less than a dollar a day,

                                C              G
Just workin' the copper claims, riskin' their lives,

         G
So it's fun…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                          D             G
 to spend Christmas with children and wives.
[Verse]
G                                    D     G
A little girl sits by the Christmas tree lights

   C                           D      G
To play piano, she gotta keep quiet.

                                C       G
To hear all this fun you would not realize

          G
That the copper…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                  D           G
-boss thug-men are millin' outside.
[Verse]
G                                          D    G
The copper-thugs stuck their heads through the door

  C                                    D        G
One of them yelled and he screamed, "There's a fire!"

                                C         G
A lady, she hollered, "There's no such a thing!

      G
Keep on …………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
G                 D              G
with your party, there's no such thing."
[Verse]
G                                  D G
A few people rushed, and it's only a few.

  C                           D           G
"It's just the scabs and the thugs foolin' you."

                                   C          G
A man grabbed his daughter and he carried her down,

          G
But the thugs…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
 G                     D             G
 held the door and he could not get out.
[Verse]
G                                    D  G
And then others followed, a hundred or more,

  C                            D      G
But most everybody remained on the floor.

                                     C              G
The scabs and the thugs they still laughed at their joke,

           G
And the children…………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
G                       D             G
 were smothered on the stairs by the door.
[Verse]
G                             D    G
Such a terrible sight I never did see,

  C                                 D      G
We carried our children back up to their tree.

                                    C                G
The scabs and the thugs they still laughed at their spree,

          G
And the children…………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
G                      D       G
 that died there were seventy-three.
[Verse]
G                           D   G
The piano played a slow funeral tune,

  C                           D            G
But the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon,

                                C         G
The parents they weep and the miners they moan,

    G
"See …………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
G                D             G
what your greed for money has done."
[Outro] G D G C D G